The Rise To Power
by CrazyKitten2112
Summary: Everyone knows that Caine Soren and his running mate, Drake Merwin, are destined to win the election for ninth grade president at Coates Academy, especially with Diana Ladris as their campaign manager. The real surprise comes after the election is over. Written for the Gone Challenge. The fabulous Gone series belongs to Michael Grant. Rated T for some suggestive content/swearing.
1. The Posters

"Hey Diana, can I ask you something?" Caine asked me.

"Sure," I answered uneasily.

What did he want from me? It sounded pretty serious. If he wanted to get dirty with me, he had another thing coming.

"Well, you know how I'm running for ninth grade class president?" Caine asked.

"Wait! What? How come I was never informed of this?" I wondered sarcastically. Caine hadn't talked about anything else since the posters had gone up at the start of the month.

"Well, I was starting to believe that the only reason you're so unsupportive of my campaign is because you feel left out," Caine began.

"Actually," I cut him off, "I'm unsupportive of this because it's totally dorky. Running for class president is something that nerds do to feel good about themselves. You're one of the most popular guys in school. You don't need to do this."

"Well, I want to do this," Caine responded indignantly, "And I want you to help me get the girl vote."

"But what if I don't want to?" I asked.

"Well, I could find some other girl to be my campaign manager," Caine challenged.

"Awesome," I responded, thinking that was a great idea.

"Well, I don't want some other girl to help me with this. You're the most popular girl in the grade, nobody's gonna be able to help me better than you," Caine said suavely. He was pretty much begging me to help him, yet the way he said it sounded so cool.

"Alright, I'll do it," I gave in.

* * *

"Look, the only quality you have that would possibly make girls want to vote for you is your looks," Diana told me bluntly. It was a really mean way to tell me I was hot, but I didn't really care. I was hot.

"So how do we use that?" I asked.

"Posters," Diana answered, "The female voters can see how great you look without having to learn how annoying you are once you open your mouth."

"Well, we can't just slap posters of me shirtless around the school," I protested, "The teachers would freak out and I'd probably be banned from the race."

"Oh no! I would have to see pictures of you shirtless every time I turn a corner and I don't get to help you with this stupid election?" Diana wondered, her voice full of mock terror, "Oh, the humanity!"

"Shut up," I responded, playfully punching her in the shoulder, "This election is really important to me."

"Why is that again?" Diana asked.

"It just is!" I exclaimed, "But why it's important isn't really important right now. We need to work on my campaign."

"Fine," Diana groaned. We both sat there on her bed and thought for a second.

"I got it!" Diana exclaimed.

"What is it?" I inquired.

"We'll have you sitting in a chair with your hair all messed up like this," Diana explained, ruffling up my hair as an example.

"Your blazer will be totally unbuttoned and your tie will be untied like this," Diana described as she opened up my blazer and undid my tie.

"And I think the teachers will be okay if the first couple of buttons on your shirt are undone," Diana told me as she unbuttoned the first three buttons on my shirt.

"I don't think the teachers would care if there were a couple more buttons that weren't buttoned," I stated. It was more of a request than a poster suggestion.

"You're probably right," Diana replied, popping open two more buttons.

"Do you think that's sexy?" she asked me with a smirk and an evil twinkle in her eyes.

"Yeah," I sighed.

There was an awkward silence that made me feel like I screwed something up. I had thought Diana was gonna finish taking off my shirt, or better yet, start taking off some of her own clothes. It wasn't like I was expecting her to strip or anything, but did she really need to be wearing that blazer right now? Maybe she'd let me take off her tie or undo a couple of buttons.

"So, we've got a picture, but now we need a slogan," Diana told me, letting me know that romantic moment had officially died.

"How about "Use your brain, vote for Caine?"" I wondered.

"Sure," Diana confirmed unenthusiastically, "Now we need to find a chair somewhere that you can take the picture in."

* * *

As always, I was in the computer lab. The old PCs were total dinosaurs, but they were still computers. Usually, I was the only one in there after the school day ended, but today was different. Two older, popular looking kids were trying to figure out how to upload pictures from an iPhone Touch onto the school computer. I decided to go over and help them.

"I couldn't help but overhear your little conversation," I butted in, "Is there any way I can help you out?"

"Sure," the girl, who was extremely beautiful, answered, "My, um...friend here is running for ninth grade class president, and we're trying to make a poster. I have the picture on my iPhone, but I don't know how to get it on the computer."

The girl didn't seem to know how she felt about him. They were both very good looking, so I had assumed that they were either siblings or a couple. Neither was true, but there seemed to be some sort of bond between the two of them. Despite what the attractive girl had said, they didn't come off as friends. They weren't making jokes, sharing stories or something like that. Still, they seemed to know each other to well just to be acquaintances.

"It's your lucky day," I announced, "I have just the cord for uploading that kind of file right here."

I zipped open my Hogwarts messenger bag and pulled out the right cord. I connected said cord to the girl's iPhone and plugged it into the right drive. Less than a minute later, the photo had been uploaded to the computer.

"Thanks for that, whatever your name is," her "acquaintance" said.

"You can call me Computer Jack," I introduced myself.

"Cool, I'm Caine and this is Diana," the boy announced.

"Awesome, do you need help with anything else?" I wondered, looking up at Diana.

"Actually, neither of us really know how to make a poster on the computer," Diana confessed, "Could you put the words "use your brain, vote for Caine" on the picture and print out ten copies for us?"

"Sure!" I answered happily.

"Make sure that the writing is in white and that it says "use your brain" on the top of the picture and "vote for Caine" on the bottom," Caine ordered, "And don't use a stupid font!"

"Like Comic Sans MS?" I wondered.

Caine responded with a look that gave me the impression that he didn't know what Comic Sans MS looked like.

"Just make the posters," he instructed impatiently.


	2. The Crushes

The boy on the poster was easily the hottest guy that I had ever seen. His hair was the perfect shade of cocoa brown. It was a little bit on the long side, but not too long. That was exactly how I liked it. His eyes were the color of delicious milk chocolate. He obviously spent a lot of time in the workout room. I'd probably be able to find him there after school.

I didn't know anything about him, but I was head over heels in love. Well, make that lust. I couldn't fall in love until I had gotten to know him better. I'd probably never get the chance to do that, though. He was obviously older than me. None of the boys in my grade were that tall and devilishly handsome.

_Use your brain, vote for Caine._ That's what the poster instructed me to do.

_Oh, if I could, I would my darling, _I mentally responded, _I would vote for you in a heartbeat. If only we were in the same grade._

* * *

I hadn't really needed any help with the election when I had asked Diana Ladris to be my campaign manager. I had just wanted to spend more time with her. It wasn't like we didn't hand out together already, I just wanted to hang out with her even more. I'd do almost anything to stay out of the friend zone. I think Diana knew how I felt about her, and she was testing me to see if I was boyfriend material.

"Have you finished my geometry homework yet, Caine?" Diana wondered.

"I'm on the second to last problem," I told her.

"Awesome! You do math so much faster than me," Diana complimented, "If I was the one doing it, it would take me all night just to get over half of the answers wrong."

"Well, now you'll only have like twenty five percent of the answers wrong," I told her as I shut the math text book, "Sorry, math is one of the only subjects I'm bad at."

"You're probably better than I am," Diana commented, "I suck at math."

A tiny part of me was tempted to say "You don't suck at anything! You're beautiful!" but I decided that would make me look like the single most desperate person on the planet. So, I decided not to say anything. Unfortunately, neither did Diana. There was a really awkward silence until the door to my dorm room swung open and my roommate/running mate, Drake Merwin walked in.

"Get the holy water, Caine," Diana instructed, "The devil just walked into the room."

"Shut up, you little witch!" Drake ordered.

"You're right, that was offensive," Diana replied, then she looked down at the ground and said, "I'm sorry, Lucifer."

I couldn't help chuckling.

"Cute book cover, Caine," Drake mocked me, pointing at the black book cover with tiny hot pink polka dots on it that Diana had stretched across her math book.

"That's not mine, it belongs to Diana," I explained.

"Then why is it on your desk?" Drake wondered, "God, Caine! Are you doing her homework?"

"Yes, Drake," I answered casually, "Yes I am."

"Why?" Drake asked disdainfully.

"Because I can," I responded confidently.

"Good for you," Drake replied unenthusiastically.

Since my running mate and campaign manager were in the same room I decided that now would be the perfect time to work on the election.

"So, guys," I began.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop right there!" Diana interrupted, "I am NOT one of your "guys," got it?"

"So, guy and Diana," I restarted.

"Wait!" Drake butted in, "How come she's Diana and I'm just "guy," don't I deserve a name, too?"

"Fine," I responded, "Do either of you have any other concerns about how I address you?"

"Actually, yes," Diana answered, "I refuse to answer to anything but my full name, Diana Rowena Annabelle Katherine Edwardine Serena Ursula Capri Kaitlyn Bonita Arianna Lillian Ladris."

"That's not seriously your full name, is it?" I inquired.

"Yes, Caine, it is," Diana answered sarcastically, "And I hope to marry you one day so my full name can be Diana Rowena Annabelle Katherine Edwardine Serena Ursula Capri Kaitlyn Bonita Arianna Lillian Ladris Soren, which will make my initials D.R.A.K.E.S.U.C.K.S.B.A.L.L.S."

"You put a lot of time into that one, didn't you?" Drake wondered.

"Actually, no I didn't," Diana replied, "I just made it up on the spot."

"Can we just focus on the campaign now?" I wondered exasperatedly.

"Why do we need to?" Drake questioned, "Nobody's going to vote for that Evangeline chick. I didn't even know she existed until her posters went up. We don't really need a campaign, much less a campaign manager."

"I'm the person in charge here, and what I say goes, Drake!" I ordered, "And I think that we need a campaign manager."

"That might be what you say now, but what you say when we're alone is totally different," Drake teased.

"Huh?" Diana grunted out of confusion.

"Nothing!" I exclaimed defensively, "Everything Drake says from this point on is a lie!"

"Caine has never talked about your how hot he thinks you are, or how much he wants to sleep with you," Drake listed, "And he definitely doesn't stay up until three am creeping on your Facebook page."

"That was one time, Drake!" I shouted, "Let the past die! Just let it die and never mention it ever again! EVER!"

"Wait, you actually did that?" Diana asked

"Yes," Drake answered before I could say anything.

"Well, it's your fault!" I defended myself, "You had to post all of those pictures of you at the beach over the summer!"

"And it wasn't enough to stare at them when I posted them?" Diana wondered.

"Definitely not," Drake answered, "He actually has a couple of screenshots of them on his iPod."

"NO HE DOESN'T!" I shouted.

"If that's true, then "he" should let me look through his camera roll," Diana challenged.

"Fine," I answered, "But I'm not giving you my password. You have to guess it."

"Doesn't it delete all of your data if you enter the wrong password too many times?" Diana inquired.

That's what I was hoping for.

"I think I turned that feature off," I lied. Could you even turn that feature off?

"Doesn't matter, I already unlocked it," Diana bragged.

"You did? How?" I wondered.

"It was easy," Diana gloated, "Your password is 2463. The two represents both the C and the A, so you can spell your five letter name with a four number password."

"Please don't look at my camera roll," I pleaded.

It was too late, though. Diana had already seen all six screen shots that I had taken of her in a bikini.


	3. The Texts

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows I've gotten on this story. Just want to tell you that this chapter is kind of short and it's not as funny as the last one, but I still think it's pretty good. Please tell me your opinions. I live for reviews. Enjoy!**

It was two days before the election when I got a text from Caine that said, "You've done a really great job as my campaign manager."

What the hell? No I haven't. I helped him out with the posters, but that was all. I had even accepted one of the homemade macaroons that Caine's opponent, Evangeline Ling, was handing out to make people vote for her. Honestly, I'm still undecided on who I'm gonna vote for.

"What are you smoking?" I texted back.

"Nothing," Caine responded, "I just think that make a good campaign manager."

"No, I don't," I messaged him back.

"Don't sell yourself short. You're a decent campaign manager," Caine replied, "But you'd make a better first lady."

"OMG. Did you actually just say that?" I asked him via text.

There was a slightly longer pause than usual. Caine was probably trying to figure out what I meant.

"Yeah," He eventually texted back, "I was trying to ask you if you wanted to be my girlfriend."

"LOL, no!" was my only response to that offer.

"LOL?" Caine texted back, "Why LOL?"

"Because you suck," I replied, finishing of my message with the XD emoticon.

"Why do I suck?" Caine wondered over his phone.

"First of all, you kind of creep me out," I digitally listed, "Secondly, you have a really short temper. Thirdly, your ego is WAAAAY bigger than anything that anybody's ever gonna find in your pants."

"You don't know that!" Caine replied.

"You just proved my second point, Caine," I texted. *

Asking out Diana was going over a lot worse than I had expected, and I had expected it to go over pretty bad. At least my phone hadn't malfunctioned and started sending text messages of its own.

"Hey, Caine. Who are you texting?" Drake wondered, "Wait! Don't tell me. Is it Diana?"

"Yes," I responded, "I'm trying to ask her out."

"Please tell me she didn't say yes," Drake pleaded, "I don't wanna have to spend any more time with that b-witch than I already have to."

"You're in luck," I muttered, "She said, and I quote, "LOL, no!""

"Which line did you use?" Drake asked.

"Line? What are these "lines" you speak of?" I asked him, pretending like I didn't know exactly what he was talking about.

"You know, the ones you were whispering to yourself last night when you thought I was asleep," Drake reminded me.

"You might want to shut up, now, Drake," I threatened, aiming my left palm at him.

Drake did shut up, but he also grabbed my phone and ran onto the bathroom. Then, he locked himself in so he could safely destroy any hopes of me ever having a relationship with Diana. *

I couldn't help but laugh when I read Caine and Diana's texts. Caine didn't need me to sabotage him. He did it all by himself. That wasn't going to stop me from making everything worse, though.

"Well, I'm sorry if it made me angry that you were judging the size of my balls when you haven't even seen them yet," I replied, trying to make my wording sound as much like Caine as possible.

"YET?" Diana texted back.

"Oh, c'mon. You can't resist me forever, babe."

"I am NOT your babe!"

"I can call you whatever I want, BABE!"

"Well the same goes for me, you perverted little freak!"

"Freak? Definitely. Perverted? Kind of. Little? No way hose."

"EW! Also, you wrote hose instead of José."

"Damn you, autocorrect."

"Damn you, Caine Soren!"

"I'm sorry. Let's have makeup sex."

"Stop texting me or else!"

I was about to keep texting when the bathroom door flew off of its hinges and back into the dorm room. I felt an invisible hand on my neck while Caine held me up against the wall.

"If there were no laws against it, you would be dead right now," Caine told me in his harshest voice, "But I'm planning on actually running for office one day, and I don't want to screw it up."

"Whatever, I'm not scared of you!" I challenged.

"Then Diana's right," Caine responded casually, "You are an idiot."

Maybe I was an idiot, maybe I wasn't. I didn't really have time to consider it as my head was speeding towards the ceiling. I hit the ceiling twice. The first time I got showered with spackle. The second time I was knocked out cold.


	4. The Questions

I took a deep breath. I should've been in my final class of the day, Algebra, but instead I was preparing myself for a debate with Caine Soren in front of the entire grade. I was beyond terrified. Caine was going to verbally pulverize me! Why had I ever let my best friends, Courtney and Mica, talk me into running for class president?

"Alright! If everybody could calm down I'm gonna start the debate!" Taylor, the sixth grader that the teachers had chosen to question me and Caine, announced into a microphone. Rumor had it that the teachers had wanted an impartial lower class student asking the questions while all the ninth graders listened on the gym floor. Taylor had gym (AKA Second Degree Murder 101) as her last hour of the day, and the teachers decided that she could miss getting injured for one day to help out with our debate.

I turned around and looked over at Caine. He looked unafraid of the debate that laid ahead. In fact, he seemed to be glowing with calm anticipation. The podium he stood behind made him look taller and more powerful. My podium had the opposite effect, dwarfing me so I looked like a scared little girl.

I looked at Taylor, who was sitting at a card table. She was positioned in between a microphone and the "Question Suggestion Box" that the teachers had placed in the library so my classmates could provide me and Caine with interview questions. Taylor was dipping her hand into the box and pulling out a tiny folded out question. I forgot how to breathe for a second as Taylor unfolded the crumpled up sheet of paper.

"The first question we're gonna have you guys answer is…" Taylor began. She paused for dramatic effect and then shouted, "WHY YOU SO STUPID?!"

The crowd broke out an uproar of laughter.

"No, seriously it said that," Taylor defended, holding the question up for everybody to see, "And I'm gonna make you guys answer it. You first, Evey. Can I call you Evey?"

"Um…no…" I murmured weakly, "I mean it's not like I would hate you if you called me Evey, but I just like going by Evangeline. Well, I guess you could call me Evey! And um…I'M NOT STUPID!"

"Alrighty then," Taylor replied, "It's your turn now, Caine."

"Let's see, why am I so stupid?" Caine wondered mockingly, "I really don't know. It might be because I'm wasting my breath answering such a dumb question."

"OHHHH!" everybody in the crowd besides the writer of the question and his friends cheered.

Taylor had already pulled another question out of the box. She opened it up and looked it over.

"Okay, this question says...ooh, never mind. I think I'd get expelled for reading that aloud," Taylor told the audience, "New question. This one says "Caine you are SO hot! Are you single?'" So, you're gonna answer it first, and then Evangeline is gonna tell us about her relationship status."

"Never fear, ladies. I'm single," Caine declared, "But, I don't really plan on staying that way for long."

The girls in the crowd were too busy screaming to notice him look over his shoulder and wink at his campaign manager, the evil Diana Ladris. She returned his flirtatious glance with a snarl. That's right. An actual snarl.

"Hey, boys! I'm single, too!" I shouted awkwardly. My answer didn't get the uproarious response that Caine's did. Apparently, I wasn't as desirable as he was.

"Okay the next question says "why do you both scream virgin?" Caine, your thoughts?" Taylor asked.

Caine looked stumped by this one.

"Well," Caine began, "I'm not really sure why you think I scream virgin, since I'm obviously not one!"

"Ooh! Who did you do?" Taylor wondered.

For a moment, Caine's face displayed a terrified expression that betrayed the truthfulness of statement.

"Diana Ladris!" Caine blurted.

* * *

Every boy in the audience erupted into cheers. All eyes were focused on me. I was boiling over with rage. It took ever last drop of self-restraint in my body not to go up there and beat Caine to the ground. I looked over at Drake, who was doubled over with laughter in the folding chair next to me. I looked at Caine, who was standing in front of me. All I could really see of him was his ass, which was looking very kickable right about now.

I could not let that little bastard get away with this. I ran up to the podium and shoved Caine out of the way.

"Let me be the first to say that I have never and will never have sex with Caine Soren!" I declared, "Yeah, he tries to get in my pants and stares at the pictures of me in my bikini that I posted on Facebook last summer, but that definitely doesn't mean he's slept with me. We're not even dating, he's just a desperate little creep, a lot like tons of you."

The audience shouted another annoyingly elongated "OHHHHH!"

I may not have been a very good campaign manager, but revenge and humiliation came naturally to me.

* * *

Why had Diana done that? Okay, I understand why she'd done it, but why now? Why did Diana have to say it in front of the whole grade? And why did she have to phrase it that way?

Evangeline had a shot at winning now, and she knew it.

"I am a virgin!" Evangeline declared, "And I'm proud! But, why shouldn't I be? Most of us here are virgins, aren't we?"

The crowd self-consciously murmured in agreement.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Evangeline continued, "Honestly, I don't care. I don't think that having sex before you're married makes you cool. I don't think that giving in to temptation and doing it makes you uncool, either, though. I think that sex is a private thing that we teenagers shouldn't even be talking about. We all treat sex like it is way too big of a deal. I understand that it's on our minds A LOT, but that doesn't mean we have to talk about it so much."

"Okay," Taylor began, looking up at the clock, "The only thing we have left is the closing statement. Caine, you're first as always."

"First of all, I like to commend Evangeline for the amazing speech she just delivered. Seriously, that's better than anything I've ever heard in the sex education unit. Then again, that's not really saying much. Still, Evangeline, you've got a future as one of those abstinence awareness ladies," I complimented, "Me, on the other hand, I plan to actually have a career in politics. Evangeline's little sex monologue might've been good, but she doesn't really care about the big issues that face this school such as horrible lunches, psychotic teachers, and boring classes. A vote for Caine Soren is a vote to solve all of those problems, and more."

"Your turn, Evangeline," Taylor told her.

"You know what's funny, Caine?" Evangeline asked me rhetorically, "You said that I don't care about the major issues as much you do, when you forgot about the biggest issue of all, bullying. If elected ninth grade class president I'll work on stopping the bullies that haunt our halls. Will Caine do that? Of course not! He's arguably one of the meanest bullies in the school. The only two people who are even on his level are Drake Merwin and Diana Ladris, who are his running mate and campaign manager. Coates Academy, do you really want people like that representing you grade?"

I couldn't believe it. Evangeline had actually done better than me. I was screwed.


	5. The Polls

Right after the debates, we had the voting.

"Let's just drop out of the race," Diana suggested, "Evangeline has us screwed, both in the election and afterwards."

"What the hell are you talking about, witch?" I wondered.

"My butt," she replied sarcastically.

"I think she was implying that Evangeline's "no bullying" campaign won't only ruin our chances at winning the election, but it's also going to destroy the flawless system that we have here at this school," Caine explained.

"Well then, we're just gonna to have to show our fellow classmates how well our little system works," I responded deviously.

I grabbed a short boy with a sunburn and long blonde hair. I kicked the back of his leg and pushed him down onto floor.

"Please don't kill me, dude!" He begged.

I soaked in the fear he was showing. The panicked look in his eyes. The way he held his arms up protecting his face. It was all so good.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you…as long as you vote for Caine," I threatened, bringing my foot down hard on his crotch.

The boy whimpered in pain as I pointed and laughed at him.

"What a charming little campaign strategy, Drakey-poo," Diana commented with fake sincerity.

"You know what, Caine?" I asked angrily, "I don't think your little bitch is gonna vote for you!"

"Don't worry, I will," Diana assured Caine, stroking his arm.

It sickened me to watch Caine's straight face turn into a stupid grin. How could he allow himself to look so stupid? It wasn't like I didn't fantasize about Diana making out with me, but I was usually strangling her while it happened. Sometimes I was running a knife up and down her back, though. That was how I defined sexy, not a stupid little kiss-up clinging to my arm.

* * *

Drake's campaign strategy was the stupidest campaign strategy that I'd ever heard of. It would've worked out really well if Drake would've hung out next to the ballot box and made sure that everybody voted for Caine. Unfortunately, Drake couldn't do that. So, he had to resort of the extremely flawed strategy of beating kids before they went to the polls. When they got to the ballot box, they would have a choice. They could pick the sweet religious girl who had handed out Macaroons, or they could pick the liar whose running mate had recently beat them to the ground.

I shouldn't have cared whether or not Caine won the election, but a tiny part of me did. He'd been really annoying lately, but he was pretty cute. No, cute definitely wasn't the right word. Hot wasn't the thing to say either. Sexy? Don't make me laugh. I'd probably say handsome, or maybe attractive. Plus, helping him win the election turn him into to my personal slave. That would be awesome.

"Can you lift me up on your shoulders?" I asked Caine.

"Definitely," he answered almost immediately.

He bent down and picked me up by the legs. He didn't seem to have hard time lifting me over his head. He must've worked out a lot. I glared down at him to keep him from peeking up my skirt, which luckily worked.

"Hey everybody!" I yelled, "I know dirt about pretty much all of you. Dekka Talent, I know all about your…secret interests. Josh Brunson, I could tell everybody what I caught you doing in the janitor's closet. Luckily, I won't tell all of your secrets…without a good reason. I haven't actually had a good reason up until today. That reason is this election! If Caine Soren doesn't win the election, all of your secrets go out on Facebook. Even if I get expelled, I'm putting it all on the internet. Your social lives will never be the same."

When I was done, Caine helped me off of his shoulders. He looked me in the eyes with an expression I'd never seen him wear before. He wasn't smirking, but actually smiling. He was shaking his head like he couldn't believe what I'd done. He seemed humble, impressed, and even loving. This person who was staring at me could not be Caine Soren.

"Thank you," was the only thing that he said.

He reached out to hug me, but I shoved him away.

* * *

This wasn't fair! Nobody was going to vote for me after this! I had to do something about this! I ran up the science teacher, Mrs. Gingham, who was supervising the election.

"You can't let her get away with this!" I cried, "It's not just cheating and bullying! It's totally evil!"

"I realize how you might be bothered by this, Evangeline," Mrs. Gingham reassured me, "But there's nothing we can do."

Mrs. Gingham was young woman, fresh out of teaching school. She had wavy blonde hair and an innocent sparkle of curiosity in her large green eyes. Most of the guys thought she was hot, and most of the girls hated her for it. She had only been here since the middle of October, when our old science teacher had taken a nasty fall down the stairs. Mrs. Gingham wasn't a tough woman at all. I figured that she would teach throughout the end of November and December, but she wouldn't be coming back after Christmas vacation ended.

"You could close the polls early," I suggested, "Nobody is actually going to vote for the person they actually want to!"

"Um…I don't think I can do that," Mrs. Gingham replied.

"I'm pretty sure the headmistress is gonna understand," I reasoned, "This election is really important to me. Plus, this is a totally fair solution. Caine and I still have an equal shot at winning."

"I guess you're right," Mrs. Gingham agreed, she held up the bullhorn she had been holding by her side and said, "ATTENTION STUDENTS OF COATES ACADEMY! THE ELECTION FOR NINTH GRADE CLASS PRESIDENT IS OFFICIALLY OVER! THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED TOMORROW AFTERNOON!"


	6. The Disappearances

**A/N: This is chapter 6 out of 10. I'm almost halfway through. Thanks for all the love you guys have given this story. I don't describe what Evangeline's friends look like in the chapter so I'll just tell you now. Mica McNauld has straight brown hair, tan skin, and large dark brown eyes. Courtney Browning is a pudgy girl with red hair, freckles, brown eyes and a bulldog nose. In another Coates pre-FAYZ fanfic that I wrote called The First September, Diana described Courtney as being ugly. It's the story where both Evangeline and Courtney made their début, it's completely completed, and people have given it some pretty good reviews. Check it out sometime if you want. I would love you even more (in a totally not creepy way, I promise) if you did.**

I nervously nibbled at my thumb. I tried to remain confident, maybe somebody who was afraid of Diana had stuffed the ballot box. Maybe Diana's posters had worked. Or maybe Diana had ruined any chances I ever had of winning when she'd called me out at the debate. Diana Ladris. No matter what was going to happen me, it would happen because of her. She should've been sitting right next to me, or better yet in my lap. I knew the last option was nothing but a fantasy, but the first one was extremely realistic.

Drake and I had sat on top row of the bleachers. There were two reasons for that decision. If we won, my victory walk down to the gym floor where I'd give my flawless acceptance speech would be longer. If we lost, nobody would be looking at me, besides Drake and the fat kid sitting to my left who should've been Diana.

"Alright students! The sooner you shut up, the sooner I can announce the election results for the next grade!" the gym teacher, Coach McCarthy shouted into his bullhorn, "and the sooner I can do that, the sooner I can leave this crap-hole we call a school to see my wife and kids!"

My nibbling escalated to chomping as Coach McCarthy fumbled around in his pocket to grab the envelope that held the election results. He tore it open as slowly as he could and pulled it out the results even slower. I appreciate dramatic effect just as much as the next guy. Oh, who am I kidding, I appreciate dramatic effect more than the next guy, and probably the guy after that too, but this was too much for me.

"Are you okay?" Drake wondered, "You look like you're about to pee yourself."

"I'm fine," I shot back coldly, "I just don't like all of this anticipation."

"Okay, just try not to wet your pants." Drake taunted.

"I'm not going to wet my pants!" I declared, in a louder voice than I'd planned on using.

The people sitting around me laughed, but one of my icy glares shut them up.

"Alright," Mr. McCarthy read aloud, "This year's ninth grade class president is…"

* * *

"Diana Ladris, you listen here!" the headmistress, Grace, shouted at me, "If have had enough of you and your attitude. You are probably the second worst kid in your entire grade. I don't know why Caine Soren wanted you and Drake Merwin to help him out with his campaign."

I laughed out loud.

"I don't see what's so funny, Miss Ladris," Grace replied, hiding her anger with a proper voice.

"If you know anybody who thinks that adults are smarter than kids, I would love to invite them down here," I began.

"And why is that?" Grace wondered.

"Everybody on the staff is a total idiot," I pointed out, "You all think Caine is this perfect little angel child, but he's not. Honestly, he's worse than me. Maybe even worse than Drake."

"Nobody is worse than Dra-," Grace began, but she quickly corrected herself by saying, "That's a very bold accusation, Miss Ladris. You shouldn't go saying things like that without evidence."

I laughed again.

"I'm pretty sure that every single person in this school is just a pawn in his little game. Well, everyone but me," I decided.

"These are some very interesting accusations, but they could easily just be some of the rumors you love to circulate throughout the building," Grace responded, "I try not to show a bias in student competitions, but I hope Miss Ling wins the ninth grade class president position. She's been a faithful member of the student council since fifth grade, and she'll put a stop to bullies such as you."

"Yeah, nothing stops bullying like an overly religious Asian girl who's destined to be a virgin for the rest of her miserable little life," I teased, "If anything, her anti-bullying shit is just gonna encourage bullying."

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to take matters into my own hands," the headmistress announced, "Diana Ladris, as of today you are officially expelled from Coates Academy."

"Alright," I responded casually.

Grace stared at me furiously. Her little old lady fist was shaking with rage. She rose up from her chair and raised her hand over her head like she wanted to hit me. Ha, I'd like to see the bitch try. Drake punched at least once a day. Grace's blow would probably feel like a gentle tap in comparison, if she even had the guts to go through with it.

"Oh no, please don't hurt me!" I cried mockingly.

Grace took a few deep breaths and sat back down.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Grace growled.

"Really, because your voice makes it sound like you will," I replied.

Grace threw her head back, let out loud sigh, and then she disappeared.

* * *

"What just happened?" I asked my campaign manager, Mica, who was also one of my best friends.

"I think Mr. McCarthy just disappeared," Mica replied.

"You think?" my running mate and best friend Courtney replied, "I don't know what's goin' on here, but I know that I don't like it."

"Maybe Mr. McCarthy has…you know," Mica suggested quietly.

Courtney and I knew exactly what she meant. Mica had the superpower to turn herself into a cloud of colored mist. She could slip through the tiniest of cracks and holes. If she had an injury, it would be totally healed when she returned to her human form.

"Disappearing? What kind of superpower is that?" Courtney whispered doubtfully, "I can see the comic books now: Cloud Girl VS Coach Disappear."

"Seriously, that's the best you can think of? Coach Disappear?" Mica asked.

Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by Caine's voice coming through Coach McCarthy's bullhorn.

"Now, I know that Coach McCarthy's disappear was unexplainable and confusing, but I think that it's best for us to continue with the election results," he announced.

Caine unfolded the sheet of white paper and smiled like a little kid on Christmas.

"My fellow ninth graders, you're new class president is…ME!" Caine exclaimed. He was absolutely giddy, but in a masculine way.

"I don't believe you!" Courtney yelled.

"Then come see the paper yourself," Caine offered.

"Alright, I will," Courtney replied stubbornly, stomping down to read the little white slip of paper.

"Shit!" Courtney shouted when she read the statistics.

"It's right there in black and white," Caine told the crowd, "I got fifty seven percent of the vote, but we have to keep in mind the polls ended early. If everybody would've gotten a vote you and Evangeline might've just won, but Evangeline just had to get Mrs. Gingham to shut down the ballot boxes."

Courtney stormed back to her seat, mumbling under her breath. When she sat down, I stood up and walked up to Caine.

"Do you want to see the results, too?" Caine asked me, sounding annoyed.

"No, I just wanted to congratulate you," I told him with all the kindness I could manage, which wasn't much at this point.

"Why? You've lost, there's no reason to try and get voters anymore," Caine replied.

"Yes, but it's the Christian thing to do," I informed him.

Caine rolled his eyes, but then he put his politician face back on and shook my hand.

I should've known that my anti-bullying campaign would've crashed and burned at the only school where there were more bullies than victims.

When I got back to my seat, Caine had pulled the bullhorn back out.

"Now, I knew you would all want to get back to your dorms when I wrote this speech, so I tried to make it short," Caine began as he pulled about ten index cards out of his pocket. I had been able to summarize my speech on about one, so I had a feeling that Caine's speech wasn't going to be as short as he'd promised, "Now, I'd like to begin by saying-"

"EVERYBODY OVER THE AGE OF FIFTEEN IS GONE!" Diana Ladris shouted as she burst into the gym.

Seven words. That was all it took to transform a gym full of restless ninth graders into a complete madhouse.


	7. The Hands

**A/N: It's finally here, chapter 7 out of 10 for The Rise to Power. I know it took longer than usual, but I'm currently writing two other stories right now. I would be ever so thankful if you read and reviewed them. Just to clear thing up, Caine has a sort of secret plan in this chapter, that doesn't get cleared up. Don't go crazy trying to figure out what it is, because it isn't very important to the story. Don't worry, I'll explain what it was in the next chapter!**

I shoved my way through the crowd to get to Diana. There was no use trying to control this chaotic crowd, so I had to focus on my second priority. When I got to her, I saw that she was truly panicked. That's right, Diana Ladris, who was untouchable in every sense of the phrase, looked truly panicked.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, trying to hide my concern. A true leader didn't get worked up just because a pretty girl did, not even if that girl was Diana Ladris.

"I'm fine," Diana responded. The fear had left both her face and voice, but not her eyes. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and kiss her until it was all okay. She must've known that somehow, because she was looking at me with an expression that was a mixture between confusion and sickness.

"C'mon, we need to get you out of here," I told her.

"Why?" Diana asked me doubtfully.

"Drake," I answered simply.

"Look, Mario, I'm not Princess Peach and Drake's not Bowser," Diana taunted.

"Yeah, he's a lot worse. Drake won't just capture you, he'll torture you until you wish that he'd kill you. He literally told me that he wanted to do that to you that once," I replied, "Plus, I'm way tougher than Mario…and hotter too."

"You're right," Diana admitted. I was surprised by how quickly she agreed with me, "We need to find somewhere to hide out until you can do something about Drake."

"But that's the thing, Diana," I answered, "I don't really need to do anything about him. We just need to let him blow off a little bit of steam, and then he'll return to do our bidding."

"You mean your bidding?" Diana wondered teasingly.

"Just follow me," I responded, beginning to get irritated.

I reached for Diana's hand, which she yanked away. So, I just started walking and hopes that she was following me.

* * *

"So, this was your brilliant plan to protect me from Drake? Sit in the nurse's office for an hour?" I wondered.

"This isn't only about protecting you," Caine replied cryptically.

'So you just said that to get me here?" I wondered.

"No, no, no," Caine denied, "I really do want to keep you safe, I just had to find a way that I could work it into my other plan."

"What other plan?" I asked.

"It's nothing, you're not involved," Caine muttered.

"Whatever, I don't care," I responded scathingly. I would never admit it, but I honestly did care. I wanted to know what crazy shit he was going to end up dragging me into. Caine was so annoying. He was constantly drooling over me, but the second I wanted to hear anything about his little plans he clamped his mouth shut. Most teenage boys acted like that, but not as much as Caine did.

"So, we might be waiting here a while," Caine began awkwardly, "Do you have any ideas on how we could pass the time?"

"Well, you've already captured me. How about you tell me your evil scheme?" I pressed.

"I thought you said you didn't care," Caine replied.

"I don't" I defended myself, "I just couldn't think of anything better to do."

"I've got a couple ideas," Caine murmured.

"What?" I asked, playing dumb.

"Well, I don't know," He stammered, "Well we could use our lips to, you know, not talk."

"What do you mean by that?" I inquired, sounding falsely naïve.

"I know we're not dating, but we could still, you know…"

"We could still what?"

"Um…how can I phrase this?" Caine wondered.

He thoughtfully chewed on his thumb for a moment.

"I got it!" Caine announced after a while.

"Please, enlighten me," I responded dryly.

"Pretend like this is you," Caine explained holding up his right hand, which was folded into a hand puppet.

Seriously? Visual aids?

"This is going to be me," Caine declared, holding up his other hand in the same position.

Oh my god, was he actually going where I thought he was going?

"Maybe, just maybe, we could make this happen in real life," Caine suggested, bringing his hands together and making them kiss. He even made sound effects. I couldn't help but break down laughing.

Just when I thought the moment couldn't get any more awkward, Evangeline Ling walked in clutching a notebook. Caine quickly separated his hands and sat on them.

"Am I interrupting something?" Evangeline questioned awkwardly.

"Why don't you ask the happy couple?" I asked teasingly, tilting my hand towards Caine.

"Um…" was Evangeline's only response.

"Sorry you had to see that. Diana and I were just joking around until the chaos blew over," Caine defended himself suavely.

"Well, it hasn't exactly blown over yet," Evangeline informed us, "In fact, it's only getting worse. I wrote down everybody's problems in this notebook."

"Great, now why are you here?" Caine wondered.

"These kids need a leader," Evangeline replied.

"Then why aren't you leading them?" Caine asked.

"They were asking for you," Evangeline told us.

"Seriously, why aren't you leading them?" Caine repeated, with a heavier dose of skepticism.

"The people have spoken, Caine," Evangeline informed us, "They want you as their president, not me. If that's what makes my classmates happy, I'm going to oblige to their wishes. I wasn't really in the race for the same reasons as you were, anyway. I just wanted the persuasive powers it would give me in student council."

"Wow, you're an even bigger loser than I thought," I insulted.

"C'mon, Diana, we've got some kids to control," Caine encouraged.

* * *

As we made our way to the main office, Diana hummed hail to the chief while Caine tried to focus on what I'd written in my notebook.

"How the Hell did you get such good handwriting?" Caine asked me.

I shrugged, ignoring his blasphemy. Four long years at Coates really helped a girl get used to that kind of thing.

When we got to the administration office, Caine took a few seconds to figure out the PA system, then flicked it on.

"Good afternoon, Coates Academy," Caine announced charmingly, "This is Caine Soren, your president speaking. Now I know that most of you would love to continue on in anarchy like this until the adults come back, but people have already started to severely injure themselves. Somebody's even broken their arm "bannister surfing." Do you really want to end up with an injury like that?"

Caine paused for dramatic effect and then continued.

"Of course you don't. With me in charge, you hopefully won't. I'll take every step that I need to in order to keep each and every one of you as safe as possible, if you'll only listen to me. I'll try to address any troublemakers in the fairest way possible. If you still refuse to comply with my orders after that my vice president, Drake Merwin, will be happy to determine a more suitable punishment."

Caine clicked off the PA system and smirked at Diana.

"What did you think?" he asked her.

"Honestly," she began, "I'm surprised that you didn't finish it off with "My name is Caine Soren and I approve of the message.""


	8. The Plasterings

**A/N: Sorry this charter isn't very funny, but it had to be written. Hope you still like it. I centered the ending on one of three OCs I put in my stories whenever I have a role that can't be filled by one of the canon characters. (Evangeline, Mica, and Courtney). I don't really have very strong feelings for Mica or Courtney, but I absolutely LOVE to write for Evangeline. I actually find that very strange, since she's like the anti-me. I'm not at all religious or shy, and I get really worked up when things don't go my way. The reason why I love her is because she's a truly kind person who tries to see the best in everyone.**

My plan to take over the school had gone over even better than I had thought it would. Originally I was going to wait in the nurse's office until somebody with an injury wandered up there. I'd apply some basic first aid and then use the kid's injury as an example of what would happen if we didn't declare a leader. Instead, my biggest competition for the position of leader, Evangeline Ling, came in and begged me to take the job. Not only did she do that, but she also handed me a notebook filled with examples of all the information I needed to gain control of the school.

I had successfully obtained power, now I just had to find a way to maintain it. The most important step in doing that was eliminating my enemies.

"Drake, who would you say is my biggest threat?" I asked my roommate, who was sitting on his bed messing with his computer.

"This stupid laptop," Drake muttered, "It won't let me watch my X rated horror movies."

"Here, let me see it," I replied, levitating the computer into my lap.

"The internet's down," I informed him after a minute of messing with the settings.

"What!? It can't be down!" Drake protested, "I was halfway through this awesome movie where these people killed people and then turned those people's corpses into weapons that they used to kill other people."

"Sounds charming," I replied sarcastically, "Now answer my question."

"Your biggest threat? That's easy, the other mutants," Drake replied, "But I have a plan to deal with them."

"What is it?" I wondered.

"I call it "plastering." We take all the mutants' hands and dip them in concrete so they can't use their powers," Drake explained.

"All the mutants?" I asked skeptically.

"Not you, don't worry."

"And…"

"Nobody who agrees to do whatever we say, either."

"Not what I was looking for, but still a good idea."

"Who else is there!?"

"Her name starts with a D."

"Dekka? Why do you care about her?"

"I think you know exactly how I'm talking about."

"Fine, we won't plaster Ladris," Drake muttered reluctantly.

"We need her for this anyway," I told him, "Her powers are actually going to be helpful for once."

I pulled out my phone so I could text her about what she had to do for the plan. My phone was broken, though, so I would have to wander around the school until I found her.

* * *

"I'm sorry Diana! I can't help you!" I shouted.

"Calm down, Jack. I haven't even asked for anything yet," she replied.

"Yeah, but I know you're gonna ask me to fix the internet, or the phone service, or something else I can't fix!" I exclaimed.

"Actually, that's not what I was here for. There's a T-Rex outside and I need somebody to fight it," Diana teased, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Most girls had abandoned the blazer, collared shirt, and tie of our school uniforms for the tank tops they wore beneath them. Diana had done the same, but the way her white tank top was stretched across her…torso just looking better on her than it did on most of the other girls.

"Hey! Diana! I've been looking all over for you!" Caine called from across the hall.

He made his way over to where we were standing and whispered something in Diana's ear.

"Seriously, everyone?" Diana asked. She sounded irritated about something.

"As many people as you can," Caine informed her, "And start with the ones who seem most likely to go against me."

"Whatever you say, Fearless Leader," Diana replied glaring at Caine as she walked off.

I couldn't help but notice how short her skirt was as she strutted down the hallway.

"What are you staring at?" Caine asked threateningly.

_The same girl that you were, so you can't judge me for staring at her no matter how much you want to get with her. She seems to have banished you to the friend zone, which makes her totally fair game for me to look at, _I thought.

"Nothing," was all I could manage to say, though.

* * *

That evening, Caine and Diana called all of the mutants down to the gym for some sort of emergency meeting. They were probably wondering whether or not we should reveal our powers now that the adults were gone. Read: Caine was going to try and manipulate us into doing something involving our mutant powers.

I was surprised by all the new faces. Did the bubble have something to do with our powers, or vice versa? I didn't really know or care. I was just excited about seeing Brianna. She was so strong, and feisty, and just perfect in every way possible. She was really cute right now, but I had to admit that I had fantasized about what she would look like in a few years at least once or twice.

"Alright," Caine began, forcing my attention away from Brianna, "This sounds intense, but you mutants have entered a join or die situation."

"Not really join or die," Drake corrected, "More like join or wish you were dead."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the Hell is going on here?" Brianna wondered.

"You have two different options," Caine told us, "Do whatever I say or get plastered."

"What's plastering?" a girl with long, straight hair and brown eyes wondered. I had never seen her before, so I assumed that she was one of the newbies.

"That's a very good question," Caine replied with his typical charisma, "Could you please tell me your name."

"It's Mica. Mica McNauld," the tan brunette answered quietly. She seemed to be regretting stepping into the spotlight and drawing attention to herself.

"Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, Mica?" Caine wondered.

* * *

I looked around the room. Caine looked friendly and inviting, Diana looked uneasy, and Drake was squirming with anticipation. Most of the other kids in the audience looked just as confused as I was, but there was only one exception. Her name was Dekka Talent, and she wore the only expression that she ever did, an emotionless almost scowl. Dekka was the only ninth grader that talked less than me and my friend Evangeline did. She wasn't shy like we were, though. She was just antisocial.

"Caine asked you to do something," Drake growled at me.

I'm ashamed to admit that I jumped a little bit when he spoke to me.

"Ignore Drake," Caine told me, "He's just trying to freak you out."

"Why?" I wondered meekly.

"Because he's Drake," Caine joked.

I laughed quietly. Caine was so accommodating. He really knew how to make somebody feel comfortable. I definitely wasn't crushing on him, but I had always thought he was kind of cute, especially on his campaign posters. I probably would've voted for him if I hadn't been Evangeline's campaign manager.

"Are you ready to give us a little introduction now?" Caine wondered.

I nodded subtly, but not so subtly that nobody would notice.

"So, let's start with your interests," Caine suggested, "What do you like to do in your free time, Mica?"

I shrugged and said, "Trying to avoid Drake…and Diana…and you."

The whole group chuckled, including the people I had pretty much insulted.

"What group do you like to hang out with?" Caine interrogated.

"I mostly just hang out with two best friends, Evangeline and Courtney. I guess you could call us the shy girls, but Courtney's not very shy."

"Ah, yes, I know both of them. Evangeline was my opponent in the election. Despite being my opponent she was very sportsmanlike and courteous," Caine responded, "I don't have Courtney in any of my classes this year, but we were in the same group for the Animal Farm project last year. We had some very interesting…discussions about Napoleon the pig."

"Yeah, she doesn't like you very much," I admitted sheepishly.

"I figured that out," Caine replied, "Now, the big question we've all been wondering about. What are your powers?"

"I can turn into a cloud of gas," I informed him, "It's a lot cooler than it sounds."

"Alright, I'm ready," Drake, who had just finished setting something up behind Caine, informed his friend.

"Perfect," Caine responded with a smirk that was now more devious than charming, "Now, we can show you all exactly what "plastering" is."


	9. The Roleplaying

**A/N: This is officially the second to last chapter of this story! I can't believe it's almost over! I tried to give Caine and Drake some karma for plastering the mutants. Please review!**

When Drake had finished plastering the mutants, we walked back to talk strategy. Drake was grinning victoriously, but Diana just looked angry. No, angry wasn't the right word. She looked bitter. Yeah, that was right word, bitter.

When we got back to my dorm, I flopped down on my bed and Diana crashed on Drake's. He didn't object to it, because he was putting an extremely hardcore rock cd into his stereo.

"What a sweet little tune," Diana teased, smirking at Drake.

"It's not a sweet little tune," Drake corrected, "It's my victory anthem!"

I couldn't understand most of the lyrics to Drake's "victory anthem," but the one's that I did understand were very graphic descriptions of torturing some girl to death.

"Okay, time to talk strategy," I announced, taking care not to call them "guys." I didn't want this meeting turn out at all like the last time we discussed political tactics.

"All we ever do is talk strategy," Diana complained, "Couldn't we just hang out for once?"

"You have other friends to do that with," I responded.

"Actually, I don't because I waste all of my time "talking strategy" with you two losers," Diana replied spitefully.

"Well, it's not like we want you here," Drake told her, "You could leave any time."

"That's not true," I corrected Drake, "I want you here!"

"Trust me, I know that," Diana answered, "When you're not hurting innocent children and trying to take over the world, you're desperately trying to get with me."

"I'm not being desperate, all the guys try to get with you," I defended, "Even Drake thinks you're hot."

"I told you never to tell her that I said that!" Drake roared.

"Wait, let me get this straight," Diana said through wild and uncontrollable laughter, "Drake Merwin, our Drake, thinks I'm hot?"

"NO!" Drake screamed.

"He's told me before," I told Diana.

"Really? When?"

"Well, I mentioned how hot you that I thought you were on time, and he agreed with me."

"You did a lot more than just mention it!" Drake taunted, "You should've been there Diana! He went into this angry rant about how much he pissed off he was that you didn't want to be his girlfriend. It went on for a whole hour!"

"You should've recorded it!" Diana replied.

"I did," Drake said, deviously pulling out his phone.

"You did!?" I wondered in shock.

"Well, I didn't get all of it," Drake admitted, "But I do have the last twenty or so minutes."

"Oh my god, you have to play it," I insisted, grabbing Caine's hands so he couldn't throw Drake's phone.

Drake's recording began with Caine asking, "What are you doing on your phone? We're supposed to be roleplaying."

"I was just checking the time," Recording Drake responded, "Why are we even doing this?"

"Oh shit, this isn't the rant," Real Life Caine realized nervously, "This is what happened right after the rant."

"We're doing this so I can have a plan if I ever want to ask out Diana," Recording Caine explained.

"Okay, but why am I a part of this?" Recording Drake wondered.

"Because, you're my best friend, and this is what best friends do," Recording Caine persuaded his roommate. The only time Caine called anybody his friend was when he was trying to manipulate them.

"What jacked up world do live in where best friends pretend to ask each other out?" Recording Drake asked.

"We could use items to represent me and Diana if you want," Recording Caine offered.

"Normal people don't do that, Caine," Drake replied.

"Normal people don't see a kid in a wheelchair and think "Man, I'd love to shove him off of a roof." That kind of thing gets people expelled," Recording Caine threatened.

I had always known it was Drake who was behind that! This recording was the proof I'd need to get him expelled, if there still teachers.

"Fine, I'll help you," Recording Drake muttered.

"Can you give me a countdown before I start?" Recording Caine wondered.

"Fine," Recording Drake sighed, "3…2…1!"

"So, Diana," Recording Caine began.

"Please don't look at me like that," Recording Drake pressed.

"Wait, are you being Diana or not? Do you think SHE would like that look?" Recording Caine asked.

"I don't think anybody would like that look, Caine," Recording Drake replied.

"What was the look?" I asked, "Please do the look, Caine!"

"No way!" Real Life Caine refused.

"Please," I begged, making my best puppy dog pout. Without thinking, I clasped my hands together in the begging gesture.

"No way," Caine said, chucking Drake's phone against the wall so hard that it shattered into tiny pieces.

"Hey! That was my phone!" Drake interjected.

"It was a trade," Caine explained, "You nearly destroyed my dignity, I destroyed your phone."

"Why did you even record that?" I wondered.

"I thought it would be good blackmail material," Drake informed me.

"Are you sure it wasn't so you could relive that fabulous moment?" I teased.

"I'm not gay for Caine!" Drake denied.

"We all know that," he replied, "Now, let's finally get to talking strategy."

Both Drake and I groaned.

"Guys, we need to stop wasting our time trying to embarrass each other and actually start making some decisions," Caine encouraged, "We're the most important people in the school, maybe even the whole world. We need to step up and take charge, not just sit around acting like immature middle schoolers with nothing better to do than make each other look bad."

"Don't act like you're the perfect leader," I challenged him, "You don't care about the welfare of anyone, you just like pretending like you rule the world. If you were actually smart, you would go down to Perdido Beach. They probably still have adults there, and even if they don't they have a lot more food than us. That town is full of goody goodies, they'll basically bow at our feet."

Caine's face transformed from his typical haughty expression to a malicious smirk.

Oh crap. I just gave a very evil boy a very evil idea. Me and my stupid mouth.


	10. The Ending

**A/N: First of all, the yellow V-neck sweater is in fact canon. If it doesn't make it into the TV show I will be very, very angry. Secondly, this chapter may make you wonder what my opinion of Eminem's music is. Personally, I like most of Eminem's popular songs. I haven't heard much of his other music. I only mentioned his song "Without Me" in the story because the chorus reminded me of Caine & Drake. Now, it's time for to finish this, once and for all. This has been one of my favorite stories I've ever written. I'm sad to be done with it, but all good things must come to an end. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Obviously, I would love it if you checked out my other stories. Thank you to everyone who has ever read this story; especially those of you reviewed, followed, or favorited it. Now, without further delay, the epic conclusion of the rise to power.**

After days of rehearsing a motorcade we were finally ready to take over Perdido Beach. I strutted out the car with the most reliable driver. Drake was eagerly following behind me and Diana was a few paces behind him.

"Shot-gun!" Drake called happily.

I wasn't disappointed by that. I would rather sit next to Diana than some kid I barely knew. It was like sitting shot-gun in a taxi cab.

When I got to the car, Drake had already climbed into the front seat. I held the door for Diana, since girls like that kind of thing. She rewarded my chivalry by spitting in my face. Unlike most of the other girls who I'd seen spit (which was a surprisingly high number), she didn't just use saliva. Her weapon of choice was a big glob of snot floating in her spit. I would've been impressed if she hadn't been aiming for my face. I wiped her spit off, and climbed into the seat next to her.

Diana had been mad at me ever since I'd started planning to take over Perdido Beach. Then again, it might've started when I let Drake plaster the mutants. Oh, who am I kidding? She's been mad at me from the moment we met.

* * *

"Nice sweater, Caine," Diana said teasingly.

I wasn't the kind of guy who cared about people's clothes, so I hadn't noticed the sweater that Diana was about to ridicule. When I turned around to get a look at it, the only thing I had to say about was, "What the hell, dude?"

Caine was wearing a yellow V-neck sweater.

"Why do you guys care what I'm wearing?" Caine wondered, "It's just a sweater."

"A dorky sweater," Diana taunted.

"No, it's just a normal sweater," he replied, trying to sound all high and mighty as usual.

"What's the difference?" Diana wondered, mocking Caine.

"Normal sweaters aren't the color of piss," I answered.

Diana snickered while Caine scowled at me.

"You guys are just jealous," Caine declared.

"What do we have to be jealous of?" I asked.

"Tons of things Drake," Diana replied sarcastically, "Without that sweater we won't overheat or get made fun of."

"You guys are jealous because everybody's going to see me dressed differently and instantly identify me as the leader," Caine informed us, sounding proud of his plan.

"Actually, people are going to see you wearing a stupid sweater and instantly identify you as the loser," Diana taunted.

"Shut up!" Caine ordered, using a voice that told me and Diana it was time to shut up.

We rode in silence for a few moments until we saw a car that had crashed on the side of the street. The car was totaled, but unfortunately nobody was injured. In fact, it didn't look like anybody had been in it at all.

"Do you guys see that?" Caine wondered, pointing out the window at the wrecked car.

"No, Caine, we're looking out the window at the pretty clouds," Diana replied sarcastically. Why did she have to be so confident and snarky all the time. It was annoying. What happened to the time when women were supposed to be seen and not heard? Then again, the only way that I really want to see women is lying on the floor bleeding.

"This is a very good sign," Caine stated.

"The only way that a car crash would be a good sign is if you and Drake were in the car," Diana insulted.

I growled and made my most menacing face in hopes that Diana could see me in the rearview.

"Don't be stupid, Diana," Caine shot back. It was one of the rare occasions that he actually stood up to her, "The only way a car would crash like that without any gore or policemen coming to check it out is if the driver mysteriously disappeared."

"That's hardly a good sign," Diana muttered.

* * *

We had spent the entire car ride listening to the album that had been democratically chosen about ten minutes before we got in the vehicle. Well, it would've been democratically chosen if this were the 1700s. It turns out that the Caine, Drake, and the boy who was driving the car had voted on what CD we were going to listen to when we drove down to Perdido Beach. I didn't even get to vote, much less nominate Loud by Rihanna. I was forced to listen to "The Eminem Show."

The album was tolerable until we got to the track "Without Me." Then, we switched channels from "The Eminem Show" to the "Rich White Kids Trying to Rap Show." That's right, Caine and Drake started to rap. Along with torturing my eardrums their racket also distracted the driving kid. There was a moment when I thought we were going to end up like one of the many "good signs" I had seen on the side of the road. Luckily, I survived. Unfortunately, so did Caine and Drake. Even more unfortunately, neither of them had damaged their vocal cords in that little performance.

When the song was finally over, Caine turned off the music.

"Why did you do that?" Drake asked him.

"I can't have anything distracting uh…um…that kid," Caine instructed, pointing at the driver.

"My name's Jeremy," He informed us.

"Nobody cares, Jeremy," Caine replied.

"I do!" Jeremy protested.

"You don't count," Caine told him.

"Yes, sir," Jeremy murmured, as he focused on the road again.

"Now, we're coming up to Perdido Beach," Caine announced, "Do we all remember the rules."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I replied, "Get out of the car, stand up straight, and let you do all the talking."

"Exactly!" Caine exclaimed happily, as we turned into Perdido Beach.

Those poor little saps had no idea what was about to hit them.


End file.
